Abstract
This chapter details how the Gospel of Thomas, like the Analects, is also the posthumous collection of a charismatic teacher. The sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas are difficult, obscure, and mysterious. They challenge the reader to discover the true nature of the world through the discovery of the self, both of which are imbued with the divine. Hermeneutics in this way becomes nothing less than soteriology—the discourse of redemption itself. To achieve this, the Gospel of Thomas advocates a radical independence: readers must decipher for themselves the text's meaning rather than rely on any sectarian doctrine or even the authority of Thomas the compiler. Indeed, the theory of aphorisms in Thomas is that one attains secret knowledge of a hidden God not from a congregation of believers but through the inward meditation on the words of Jesus.
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